ARTICLE: THE PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF INVESTMENT BILL
2015-07-29
The Department of Trade and Industry has just published the latest version of the Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill. The Bill has its origins in the government’s wish to reassure foreign investors who were alarmed by South Africa’s decision three years ago to terminate its Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with a number of European countries. Its purpose is supposedly to provide for “the legislative protection of investors” and the “promotion of investment”.
The FW de Klerk Foundation shares the concerns of participants in a recent private round-table discussion – mentioned in Business Day – on the functioning of Parliament, which was hosted by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC).
800 years ago, on 15 June 1215, in a plashy meadow beside the River Thames in England, an event took place that would deeply affect the constitutional future – not only of the English people – but of countries throughout the world, including South Africa. On that day King John was forced by his barons to sign the Magna Carta – a document that introduced for the first time the notion that kings – and by extension governments – are ultimately subject to the Rule of Law.
In 2002 the United Nations declared 21 May World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
Language of instruction is a key issue at the heart of debate in most multilingual countries.
On 1 May, South Africa will once again celebrate Workers’ Day – although, in truth, there is nothing to celebrate.
International Mother Language Day, proclaimed in 1999 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), is the occasion to celebrate linguistic diversity.
According to “Rapport” of 30 November 2014, the Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande, has threatened to withdraw the registration of the private university, Akademia, if its language of tuition remains exclusively Afrikaans.
Universal Children’s Day is a day devoted to the promotion and protection of children’s rights.